Holy missing year, Batman!

It’s amazing how time can get away from you, especially if you’re in a place where you’re not taking much care to watch how it’s flitting by. Or speeding by.

The last post I wrote here said I finished writing the sequel to Omni in 2012. Yes, 2012. As it so happens, the world didn’t end. Just like the world didn’t end, the sequel to Omni (Omni 2: the Omniing—no, that’s not the title; it’s an inside joke) wasn’t published. That means, of course, that I still haven’t completely finished the book. How is it that I finished writing a book more than a year ago, yet haven’t said anything further about it, let alone published it? Good question.

Indulge me for a moment as I recall a quick story. Years ago, when talking to a gentleman I opened the conversation with, “Hi. How are you today?” (I actually wanted a response–it’s not a greeting, damn it.)

His response was roughly thus, “Interesting. I’ve had an interesting day.”

As we continued to speak he told me the meaning of his response.

“When I was training, I was taught that when you’re having a bad day and you don’t want the other person to know, you say you’re having an ‘interesting’ day.”

With that in mind, 2013 was interesting in a lot of ways. However, in just as many ways as it was painful, last year was also a time of exponential growth and unexpected positives that, on the whole, turned what could have been a festering, rotting pile of rubbish into a pretty—albeit small—flower bed. It’s not often you get dealt two-seven off-suit at the beginning of the hand and end up winning the pot. (If I’m going to be technical, the “bad stuff” started in 2012, but as the song goes, the train kept a rollin’.)

Life can never be the same following last year—that can be extrapolated into various meanings. I don’t feel it necessary to divulge the drama of my personal and professional life, but I do need to acknowledge it. So, consider yourself acknowledged, 2013. I’m still watching you.

While I’m not willing to put a timeline on getting book 2 of the Debate Team out into the world—I still have revisions to make since I basically took a year off—I would like to think that 2014 will see its release. That’s a pretty wide-open goal at this point, but it also seems realistic.

However, I’m planning on not just releasing the next Debate Team novel, but also putting out the little project I was working on in late 2012 and finished in 2013.

I’m tentatively calling that story Cold Call. It’s a novella, so it’s pretty short by my standards. Unlike Omni and Reborn which are both fantasy novels, Cold Call is a modern-day thriller with no magic and no sci-fi. It’s fast-paced action and full of snark. (For those who don’t know me and haven’t picked up on it, I’m a rather snarky person.) Considering its length, I’d say Cold Call stands a better chance of being released before Debate Team book 2. I’m still not back to my breakneck writing and revising speed, so easing in with a novella logically increases my chance of seeing a project through to completion in anything that resembles a timely manner (while the melting of the polar icecaps can be seen as representing a length of time, it’s not timely in this sense).

So, what’s 2014 look like? If I’m able to finish putting my life back together it should start with Cold Call some time in the spring or summer, followed by the Debate Team book 2 in summer or fall (maybe early winter if life continues to kick me while I’m down). If I’m able to finish both of those projects and release them before the year is out, then it’s back to writing the Debate Team book 3. You know what? Screw it! When I publish both of them this year I’ll finish writing the Debate Team book 3. Take that, 2013.

Oh. I didn’t mention that I’ve started writing book 3? How careless of me. Why yes, yes I have. I’m only 5000 words in, but that’s 5000 more than I had at the beginning of last year, so I’m good with that.

Not to mention I haven’t finished the Scourge of Kalladin series and there’s a bunch of other projects I have in mind that I mentioned in 2011. Holy cow. 2011? Yes, 2011.

Suffice it to say I have a lot of work to do. Whether I’m busy writing may be another story, but I am busy. And, I promise, the writing is coming along—just at a polar icecap speed.

Here’s to wishing everyone a good 2014.

Cheers.

P.S. I’m not sure I could put into words how refreshing and reinvigorating it is to look at these stories—these creative endeavors—and feel excited again. It’s like a part of me I thought lost is coming back. I knew it’d return at some point, it’s just taking much, much longer than I ever thought it would.